The courtyard: the atmosphere of human life

Every year when it comes to New Year's Eve, the families of Zhong Yunxing and Zhong Yunhong would stay in Erdaohezi, but this year Wu Meifeng insisted on going home.

It was late at night, and after eating the dumplings for New Year's Eve, the couple was awkward and neither of them was willing to give in.

During the New Year's Day, Mother Zhong was also sulking when she saw the two of them. In the end, she persuaded Zhong Yunhong to go back to her own home with Wu Meifeng.

After Zhong Yunhong left, Zhong Yunsheng and his wife also took Xiangrui back to their own courtyard to rest.

After playing for a day, Xiao Ruyi slept in the east room with Mother Zhong, while Darong and Zhong Yunxing returned to the small west room.

"Do you know why Wu Meifeng is acting like that?" Darong said to Zhong Yunxing while lying on the bed.

"Why?" Zhong Yunxing also turned sideways and lay face to face with Darong.

"She said a few days ago that she would see how much New Year's money our mother gave to these children this year. If she gave only 20 yuan, she would be upset."

Darong chuckled and looked at Zhong Yunxing with her lips pursed.

"What do you mean?" Zhong Yunxing really didn't understand Darong's meaning, so he asked back directly.

"Every year, my mother gives Ruyi and her friends twenty yuan in lucky money, but gives Xiaoping's Miaomiao fifty yuan. She says it's unfair and that my mother is biased."

"Fuck, is she short of that thirty dollars?" Zhong Yunxing replied unconsciously after hearing what Darong said.

"It doesn't really matter whether the money is a little different or not. She's just feeling unbalanced."

In fact, Darong had more or less the same idea as Wu Meifeng on this matter, but Darong's personality was different from hers. Since Mrs. Zhong did not give it to Miaomiao in front of Darong, she pretended not to know and did not want to get herself angry.

But Wu Meifeng was different. Every year when she saw Miaomiao, she would ask him about it and then sulk by herself.

Miaomiao is only less than a year older than Xiangrui. A child doesn’t have any scheming or ideas, so of course he would answer whatever was asked truthfully.

"My mother doesn't have a job. She just farms this little land. My father earns that little money by himself and has to pay off the debt for building the house..."

"You can't say that. Every parent has a hard life. I understand that you feel sorry for her grandmother, but the house was built for Yunsheng after all. Wu Meifeng didn't say anything wrong. It's my business if I don't care about it, and there's nothing wrong with her caring about it."

Darong is a trouble-maker, but she is not stupid. She felt somewhat unhappy when she heard Zhong Yunxing's biased remarks. She could ignore these things, but Zhong Yunxing could not think that this was natural.

Zhong Yunxing was a smart man. After hearing the displeasure in Darong's words, he shut up in time and stopped talking. As an elder brother-in-law, he shouldn't say too much. The extra wine he drank that night made him talk too much.

"Hehe, I'm lucky."

Zhong Yunxing changed his expression and happily hugged Darong into his arms.

The morning of the first day of the New Year is the time when each household visits each other to wish each other a happy new year. The entire Zhong family lives in Erdaohezi, and early in the morning, younger generations came to wish Zhong's mother and father a happy new year.

Zhong Yunxing and Zhong Yunsheng waited until after 9 o'clock but still didn't see Zhong Yunhong and his wife coming, so they couldn't help feeling a little anxious.

"Why hasn't my second sister-in-law come yet? If we wait any longer, it will be noon before we finish the circle." Wenying complained to Darong anxiously.

Although the custom in Nanjiao is that female family members are not allowed to go out to pay New Year's greetings on the first day of the New Year, they still have to visit the homes of the elders in the family. Mr. Zhong has many brothers, so it takes a lot of time to sit in each house.

"I got home late yesterday, so I might not be able to get up today. Let's wait a little longer. If you don't come by 10 o'clock, we'll go for a walk first."

Darong was just talking when she saw Zhong Yunhong and Jixiang entering the yard.

"Where's her second aunt?"

Zhong Yunhong had already entered the house and had not seen Wu Meifeng's car coming in, so Darong asked Zhong Yunhong.

"I'm sick and dying. I won't come today." Zhong Yunhong said these two words in a rush and almost choked Darong to death.

Darong turned her head to look at Mother Zhong, and seeing that she was frowning and didn't seem to want to say anything, she didn't know what to say, so she took Wenying and went out to pay New Year's greetings.

"Sister-in-law, my second brother and my second sister-in-law are fighting again." After leaving the house, Wenying said this nonsense for the sake of conversation.

"Yeah, looking at your second brother, he's making quite a fuss."

"Let's go see her this afternoon and try to persuade her." Wenying took Darong's arm, her tone light and cheerful.

Darong turned her head and looked at Wenying who had a calm expression, shook her head and smiled bitterly.

During lunch, Jixiang and Xiangrui started fighting over a spoon again.

Because Zhong Yunsheng has always lived in Erdaohezi, Xiangrui basically grew up in Zhong's mother's room every day. There is a small spoon with a flower handle in the cupboard, which is what Xiangrui has been using since he was a child.

Today, for some reason, Jixiang insisted on using the spoon with the flower handle to eat, and would snatch it away if I didn't give it to him.

Of course Xiangrui wouldn't just let Jixiang take it away, so the two of them started fighting over the dinner table.

"Zhong Chengyu! You're already in school, why can't you be more considerate of Xiangrui? You beat him up every time you see him. What's wrong with you?"

Zhong Yunhong was also a little angry and directly pulled Jixiang down from the chair.

"I won't let you do that. My mom told me to beat him to death!"

As soon as Jixiang said this, everyone's eyes subconsciously turned to Zhong Yunhong and his son, and the anger in Zhong Yunhong's eyes visibly surged.

This time, Mother Zhong reacted quickly and pulled Jixiang into her arms. Zhong Yunhong raised his foot and kicked directly on the table leg.

If Zhong Yunxing and Zhong Yunsheng hadn't held down the table with their hands, the kick would have overturned the table.

"He's just a kid, what does he know? Why are you taking it out on him?"

Mother Zhong put Jixiang behind her and scolded Zhong Yunhong angrily. If his kick had really hit the child, the child would have been covered with bruises.

Little Ruyi sat at the table, staring blankly. Xiangrui in Wenying's arms stopped crying and blinked at Zhong Yunhong.

A farce on the first day of the Lunar New Year meant that no one in the family could enjoy their meal.

"Why don't you go to her second aunt's place and try to persuade her to reconcile them." After cleaning the table, Zhong Yunxing whispered to Darong.

Darong looked at Zhong Yunhong and became somewhat worried. She nodded and agreed to Zhong Yunxing.

In the afternoon, Darong and Wenying rode their bikes out and headed for Zhong Yunhong's house together.

"How can she educate her child like this? She is my aunt after all."

Wenying pedaled her bike and thought about what Jixiang said at noon. She became angrier and angrier. She rolled her eyes and complained to Darong.

Darong didn't know what to say. After all, Wu Meifeng's way of teaching her children was really annoying. Now that everyone has only one child, who wouldn't feel sorry for their own child?